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All the news, features and stories from the Alumni Association

A-Z of Tech Lingo (H-K)

The world of tech can be a confusing place full of complicated terms and theories. Are you new to the world of tech? Or do you just want to be informed about what’s going on? After all, advances in technology affect all of us.

This is the second article in a series where we explain important tech terms you should have at least a basic understanding of.

This is where programmers get together to work intensively on a collaborative project over a short period of time, usually for a few days or up to a week. Projects generally take the form of website, mobile app or robot with the goal of starting with an idea and finishing with a complete prototype.

Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the idea of connecting everyday things to the internet so they can communicate with you and each other. The most common example is smart home products and wearables – such as:

Smart thermostats that you can control via an app on your smartphone

Smart plugs which monitor how much energy your devices are using and turning them on and off accordingly

Home security systems controlled from your smartphone

Smart pet feeders that calculate the best nutrition for your pet, control how much they need to be eating and can even order a delivery of food when it runs out

Wearable devices that are inserted under the skin, tracking glucose levels in diabetes patients and sending a message if the levels are nearing the limit

Wearable fitness trackers such as Fitbits and smart watches

The future of the Internet of Things is predicted to be smart cities – cities that use data to improve infrastructure, utilities, services and quality of life for its residents.

Keywords

Keywords are vital for ensuring that people can find what they are looking for when they search on the internet. Keywords are the words and phrases that people type in when they want information. If you have a website and want people to be able to find it, you ideally need your website to appear on the first page of results so you need to have the right keywords – this is called SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). To have successful SEO, you need to let the search engines (such as Google) know that your website has the most useful, high quality and relevant content for your potential customers. This is where keywords come in. Keywords let search engines know what your website is all about. The world of SEO and keywords is complicated – keywords are just one of many factors that can contribute to your Search Engine Ranking. This infographic by Digital Information World is a great place to see where keywords fit in.